Mourners reach out in social media following death of Detroit Catholic Central football player David Widzinski

Catholic Central sophomore linebacker David Widzinski, show here making a sack earlier this fall, was found dead on Monday morning in his bed. (Jared Purcell | japurcell@mlive.com)

The Detroit Catholic Central community is in mourning as it tries to cope with the death of sophomore David Widzinski after he passed away in his sleep on after going to bed on Sunday night. The cause of death still remains unknown.

Widzinski was a rising star on the Catholic Central football team, making great strides in the linebacker position. He most recently finished with 15 tackles in the Shamrocks' loss to Detroit Cass Tech in the Division 1 state finals.

Funeral arrangements are not yet known.

Many members of the Catholic Central community have taken to twitter to offer support and condolences in light of the tragedy.

Athletic director Aaron Babicz has been posting supportive comments for the community since the news of the tragedy was brought to his attention.

Babicz's first post reads: "I LOVE ALL OF YOU. WE WILL FIGHT AND HEAL TOGETHER. WE ARE A FAMILY AND WILL STAND TALL AS ONE FOR OUR BROTHER. #CCfamily"

The latest post reads: "TIME TO ARMOR UP SHAMROCK FAMILY. TODAY WE START PICKING UP THE PIECES. TOGETHER. #Phil413"

Catholic Central senior quarterback Garrett Moores tweeted "Keep the ones you love close. In a blink of an eye they could be taken away from you #RIPDavid#missyou"

Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, Catholic Central's arch rival, has also expressed condolences in the twitter, saying "Our thoughts and prayers go out tonight to the whole Catholic Central Community and the #CCfamily"

Here is the statement released by the school on the tragedy:

It is with great sadness that the Catholic Central community mourns the loss of one our brothers and Men of Catholic Central, sophomore David Widzinski, who passed away in his sleep sometime Sunday night or Monday morning. Our entire community stands with David’s parents, Paul and Barbara, his sister Emily and his brother Stephen. Their pain is our pain: we are all one family. At this time we have no idea what the cause of David’s death is.

After having met with some of David’s closest CC brothers and their parents Monday evening, we informed our families, faculty and staff. 1,067 of our students, all brothers, are in mourning. We respectfully ask the press to keep their distance from our students at this tragic time. They are in shock and are fragile. The entire school is praying a common rosary together at 8 a.m. Our football players will meet together with coaches, Basilian Fathers and counselors afterward. Counselors and Basilian Fathers will be available for students as needed, and our teachers will be more pastoral than academic with our students today. A counselor will be present in each of David’s classes.

The hearts of our CC community have been tugged in several different and painful directions over this past year. We are confident in the prayers, love and support of the greater community, as we have already experienced over this past year. We are grateful for the prayers and love of students and families from our fellow Catholic, public and private schools: you are good friends.

Funeral arrangements are pending and will be announced on the front of our website as soon as they are set.